Is unemployment costing Pennsylvania employment?

The state House and Senate Labor Committees held a joint hearing on proposed changes to Pennsylvania’s unemployment compensation law. Findings from the meeting indicated unemployment might be costing us employment.

The Patriot-News File/2007State Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon County

In 2007, when the economy was strong, Pennsylvania was paying $2.1 billion in unemployment benefits. By last year, after the recession had devastated the national and state economy, benefit payouts soared to $4.8 billion, creating a debt to the federal government that will soon surpass $5 billion.

If Pennsylvania was distributing $2 billion in unemployment benefits when the economy was good, is it any wonder why we have problems in a bad economy? The UC law was established to protect those who are “unemployed through no fault of their own,” and the unemployment compensation trust fund holds the “financial resources” to pay unemployment benefits. Employers pay taxes to cover benefit and administration costs of our unemployment compensation law and system.

To cover these costs, employers pay many state and federal unemployment compensation taxes, beginning with a minimum tax of $214.16 per employee. This means an employer with five employees pays $1,070.80 in state unemployment compensation taxes. An employer with 50 employees pays $10,708 in unemployment compensation taxes. An employer with 500 employees pays $107,080.

These taxes are in addition to all of the other taxes and fees employers also pay, including: business privilege taxes, capital stock-franchise taxes, corporate taxes, environmental permits and fees, government late fees and penalties, health care costs (which will increase under Obamacare), license fees, permit fees, property taxes, registration fees, sales taxes, service fees and taxes, Social Security taxes, utility fees and taxes and workers’ compensation premiums.

As employees collect unemployment benefits, their employers’ UC taxes are adjusted accordingly — i.e., they are “experience rated.” Experience rating can take unemployment compensation taxes to as much as $865.89 per employee. An employer with five employees pays $4,329.45 in state unemployment compensation taxes. An employer with 50 employees pays $43,294.50 in unemployment compensation taxes. An employer with 500 employees pays $432,945 in unemployment compensation taxes.

New employers (those with no UC experience), pay $296.24 per employee and new contractors pay $821.01 per employee. Again, these taxes are besides all of the other taxes employers pay and can be a disincentive to creating — or maintaining — jobs.

Pennsylvania’s UC taxes are higher than most other states. Our federal debt is adding to those taxes through automatic, annual federal unemployment compensation tax increases on employers.

If a Pennsylvania employer pays the same wage as an employer in another state, our UC costs are added on top of the Pennsylvania wages that are paid. Some employers find it is more cost-effective to take jobs to other states. Pennsylvania and its citizens lose out on these jobs and job opportunities when job creators find it less expensive to create jobs in our state.

For example, if an employer is planning to add 100 new jobs and pays each worker $45,000 regardless of which state the jobs will be created in, the Pennsylvania unemployment compensation taxes for these 100 new $45,000 jobs would range from $21,416 to $86,589. When the employer compares these and other Pennsylvania tax and permit fee costs, it could mean the good-paying jobs go elsewhere.

Unemployment compensation is designed to help those who are “unemployed through no fault of their own.” It should not be costing us jobs and job opportunities.